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Apostrophes

Beware the 70s, 80s and 90s! Follow the links and you will see that they are not the same as the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. -- rbrwr ˆ

Coversation moved to article talk page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Birmingham

The rule on Wikipedia is to leave text in American or British English as first written. 1990's is an acceptable U.S. style according to the style manual on my shelf. Please don't waste your time trying to correct it. Rmhermen 14:03, Jun 19, 2004 (UTC)
Greengrocers' apostrophes in dates are expressly forbidden in the Wikipedia style manual. See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers). This format enables links like 1970s to work. Shantavira 16:31, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)
I suggest you read that page again. Nowhere is it espressly forbidden. It is true that the article titles for the decade articles are written in that format. but links on pages can be easily linked as [[1990s|1990's]] if you like, although I don't believe the dates I noticed you changing were linked at all. Rmhermen 00:12, Jun 21, 2004 (UTC)
I did. The example given on that page states "1830s (note no apostrophe)". That seems pretty explicit to me. In any case, in English the apostrophe has just two well established functions: to indicate omission and to indicate possession. There is simply no case for employing an apostrophe to indicate plurality. Shantavira 15:29, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)
This article (and the editor who came after me) says not, but I think "For other Croydon's see ..." looks better with an apostrophe -- RHaworth 10:26, 2005 Feb 6 (UTC)
Ah, but we have a Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers) so that's what we use. You would doubtless look better with an apostrophe too. I suspect it only looks better because one hasn't seen the word Croydons before, whereas one would already be familiar with "Croydon's". Shantavira 08:36, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Hi, Shantavira. I am going to reply to your emails some day but in the meantime I will just say: Yes, I have caught the Wikibug and, as I eventually discovered, it's all your fault!

I note you stay clear of VfD's - I don't blame you. But with your background, I think you may well have something useful to say in the above VfD debate.

Cheers, Roger -- RHaworth 10:12, 2005 Feb 6 (UTC)

Thanks for calling my attention to this. The discussion raises some interesting issues. Nevertheless, I find life's too short to get involved in so many of the discussions taking place on Wikipedia alone; I'm already involved in quite a few discussion groups in other corners of cyberspace. Shantavira 12:45, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Thanks for voting. Having seen the inane (in my opinion) comments that people have hung after your comment and mine, I think I shall withdraw to quieter waters like Coal and Wine Tax posts (but even they were at the centre of a heated debate in their time). Cheers. RHaworth 09:54, 2005 Feb 7 (UTC)

Nice Picture

But aren't U wanted by Interpol? I'm sure I've seen u in a James Bond movie. max rspct 17:42, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

re: Future evolution of humans

In the article Future evolution of humans you propose that the genome will become more diverse due to extended survival.

I propose the converse is true. It is true that more persons with genetic imperfections will survive (but see below), but the way society is becoming global, i think more and more populations that in previous times would have no contact with each other, will in the future interbreed, and the genome will 'average out' consider for example -

  • The gene for blonde hair is dissappearing
  • more people in the west are marrying other races- look how many Phillipino girls marry westerners compared with 100 years ago.
  • different races are already intermixing in unprecendented amounts -the 'Global Village' concept

All the differences between races will blend - in 1000 years all humans will be brownish, brown eyes and dark hair. On the other hand, as genetic engineering proceeds, the ability to specify a baby beforehand will overtake and replace evolution. Genetic defects will be detected and aborted early, only perfect babies will be allowed to be born. We'll end up with a society similar to 'Brave New World', except everyone will live to be 500 years old.

Personally, I think its a disaster waiting to happen. Humans will become a monoculture species, and look what happens to monocultures, one good virus and were all dead.

Im interested on what you think.

Lincolnshire Poacher

I didn't write this article and have no interest in it. I suggest you contact the author User:Anthonyjameswood. Shantavira 09:23, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Mount Snowdon

I've not reverted your change to the Snowdon Mountain Railway, but it is correct to say that it is the highest peak in England and Wales, as there are no peaks higher than it in England. The rationale for combining the two is that they are a single legal entity in many respects - see England and Wales for details. Thryduulf 17:44, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough, but "highest peak in England and Wales" reads very oddly to me, and I'm not even Welsh. Shantavira 19:03, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)
reading your reply there I think I've finally understood what you consider odd about it, in that it could be interpreted as meaning the peak is in both countries. If that isn't your objection then it makes it doubly odd! Thryduulf 20:24, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC) (I'm not Welsh either, but I did go to university there)

About the Third Rail edit....

... I'm not sure how else to contact you other than here. I was curious about your justification for changing km/h to kph. I'm an engineer and I've always preferred the former designation. Is the latter more commonly accepted otherwise. Is there something in the wikipedia style manual about this? Regards, <...removed email address...>

mph and kph are the standard abbreviations, and more familiar to the general reader, though I can see why an engineer would like the / sign. Shantavira 15:52, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

The Prisoner

Heya,

Thanks for helping clean up The Prisoner. Unfortunately, I overdid two of your edits. I looked over your input and I think you really cleaned it up well. Would you mind going over it again to make sure all of your input is reflected? Sorry about that! I shouldn't have edited the whole article in one swoop. Yeago 08:05, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Not a problem. Thanks for tackling this article, which needed much more work than I was able to give it. Shantavira 12:40, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Slide tackle, more like. Yeago 18:51, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Hi Shantavira, I must say I do agree with the majority of your edits there. Always interesting to see someone else tidy up one's text. However I have a few questions for you. The first is the removal of the footnotes. My impression from reading a few articles was that the preferred way of including external links was using footnotes so that if something changes externally, it doesn't break within the main article. Just wondering if I've gotten that wrong? By the way the Quit Motorplex link doesn't look right. The other question is about the photo. What is it about it that you think is so poor? I actually thought it was pretty good considering the conditions but I'm open to criticism. Bear in mind that the top fuel cars only appear late in the day when the light is bad and that drag car was taken when it was doing around 500kph. Did you look at the larger version? personally speaking I would like aerial pictures in the article to see the large industrial are and compare that with the spectacles, but getting that as a pd would be impossible I think. Kind regards. SeanMack 12:49, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Hi SeanMack. I moved the footnotes into the text, as this now seems to be pretty standard in Wikipedia (except perhaps for references). This enables readers just to click on the link instead of clicking the note and then the link. I'm not quite sure how this could break the article, but do as you see fit. It's true they could be listed as regular external links in the usual way, except that they do relate to specific features of the article rather than the article as a whole. As for the photo, since it's blurred, and taken at night, it could be almost anything, anywhere. Does it say anything about Kwinana that a daylight photo of something in the town wouldn't say better? Shantavira 13:20, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

this is the sort of thing I was thinking about: http://www.perthwa.com.au/cgi-bin/maps/drawmap.cgi?l=2&r1=4&c1=2 SeanMack 13:04, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
I think I'll add this in as a link: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-32.279892,115.751610&spn=0.232550,0.308544&t=k&hl=en SeanMack 13:24, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
I agree that a pic of Kwinana would be good but maybe as an addition not a replacement? I work near there so hopefully I'll get round to it. I do still like the drag car as I think it captures the speed of the car, and I can guarantee it was taken at the motorplex - I don't think a blur in a photo is necessarily always bad but I'm not being defensive about it, I guess we'll just have agree to disagree. If/when I take another pic I'll put the drag car down to the motorplex section and make it smaller with a link to a bigger version, that's probably the best way forward as a compromise? If you or anyone else feels strongly enough about I won't complain if it's removed... Do you think the google map was a good addition?
Hey again. Just a follow up from before. Last weekend I drove to Kwinana and tried to get an interesting photo. Genuinely there is nothing there except a few shops. You'll see what I had to make do with... Regards SeanMack 09:38, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Modern Talking

Are you absolutely sure, that there is no other German bestseller like Modern Talking? Vorash 18:20, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

I have absolutely no idea. I made that edit because "can be considered as a world's best selling German music act in a history" is meaningless. "Considered" by whom and under what circumstances? As I said, either they are best selling or they are not. Perhaps "best selling" should be deleted entirely, but I thought it unfair to do that without any statistics to hand. Shantavira 19:45, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Changing US English spelling to UK English - storey

Please see Spelling Guide.

"Story" is the standard spelling for the U.S. Mirror Vax 19:16, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

Oops! Your rite, sorry. Shantavira 10:23, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

Birmingham sources

Hi Shantavira: Your well-intentioned provision of sources at Talk:Birmingham#Providing evidence was redundant because Proto was making a rhetorical point about Andy's own intensive request for sources. The section was part of a very long discussion between several editors and Proto was expressing his exasperation in a lighthearted way. I am sorry that you spent time on something of little immediate benefit. Are you aware of Wikipedia:Meetup/Birmingham? — Theo (Talk) 19:41, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

(test)

Sweet Peanuts

Hey there Shantavira. Thank you very much for answering my question ("Questiona about Peanut-Butter snack"). The name doesn't really ring a bell at all, but from the description on the website you provided, I'd say it's the same thing with a different name due to it being apparently made by a different business. :)

-- Demonesque 00:33, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

your help and voting to keep People with an Aquarius sun sign, etc.

Hello there. I m eliciting support to vote down the deletion of pages listing people with wiki pages according to their sun sign. I ask you User:Shantavira as i see you ve made edits before to the Western astrology page which means you probably have interest in the topic and perhaps this issue (unlike, i hazard to guess, the three users who ve voted against having these lists). if at all you think these pages should exist, get i get you to vote by following the links to the deletion page at People with an Aquarius sun sign. either way, best regards. - Mayumashu 18:41, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

Sorry, but I voted to delete. -- Shantavira 19:28, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
no problem, thanks anyway. - Mayumashu 05:31, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

your user page

What a fascinating individual are you. Truly captivating. Deeply immersed in your work on, and study of, several religions for much of your life, yet you hold the opinion that the world would be better off without religion. Are you a Quaker? I was raised (sort of) as a Quaker, but havn't run across another in at least a decade. Oddly, I realise that I slowly hope you are one. Thanks for your contribution to my question at the reference desk concerning how to slow down the out-put of a fan motor. I hope all my commas and apostrophes are in order. I never get a second chance to make a first impression, you know. --Leah

Hi Leah. Thanks for your message. I hope you got the motor working. I was raised a Quaker but eventually became a Buddhist, partly because I found I loved meditation, but also because I didn't find Quakerism had a particularly clear or consistent teaching, at least not compared with Buddhism. Nevertheless I still have many good Quaker friends and live in Birmingham which is a Quaker stronghold in the UK. Local Buddhists and Quakers sometimes meet up, as we do have a lot in common. Yes, I prefer not to think of Buddhism as a religion (no God), but I don't expect to convince many people about that. Religious polarisation today seems to be causing so much distress I do think we'd be better off without religion as such, but I don't think there's much chance of that in the near future. One can perhaps only start by bringing religions together for greater understanding, but if some religions don't want that, what hope is there? It's a huge question. Anyway, there is probably a slot for Quaker Wikipedians somewhere if you want to contact some. Maybe have a look at the contributors to the relevant articles? -- Shantavira 19:28, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

electional astrology

I have sen your comments on the subject. The matter has been reviewed / revised . I would like to have your comments on the issue.

shridharvk 3 April 2006

Ernst Junger: Help Desk

I want to thank you for your input, and I eventually did as you mentioned. Thanks, Bob N

Digbeth Coach Station

I removed the external link you added to Digbeth Coach Station - it doesn't work. I'd be interested to see what the station will look like, though - where did you find the link? -- Hughcharlesparker 16:19, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Hugh. As you could probably tell from the url, this links to a local chat group that I'm a member of, so I can get to it easily enough. It was posted by someone who works for NatEx, supposedly from their press release, though I haven't been able to find the image elsewhere. Obviously I can't just paste it into Wikipedia, so I think we'll just have to wait for something more official to appear. It's been a very long wait already! If you really want to see it (bear in mind it is still subject to planning permission) join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/moseley_free/ then go to the Files (not photos) section of the chat group and find DigbethConcept_big.jpg -- Shantavira 17:58, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Pages from Ceefax

Hi there,

I notice you made some minor changes to the "Pages from Ceefax" section of the Ceefax page. Can you clarify what bits you found unclear? I'm afraid I don't understand which parts were nonsensical, although it's often hard to judge these things from a fresh perspective. Thanks!

Fourohfour 16:01, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

The phrase "the service is typically accompanied by some form of easy listening music" puzzled me. It appeared to be nonsense, since what you normally hear when accessing any teletext page on any channel is whatever programme happens to be showing. There is no teleext sound channel. Then I realised the "music" refers to (the rare) "out of hours" broadcasting of teletext pages. I hope my edit made this clearer, though as I said, the whole article needs clarifying.-- Shantavira 16:15, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
Oh, I see. Okay, sorry, I assumed it was clear because it was within the "Pages from Ceefax" section; as I said, it's hard to view these things "cold" (not that implying I wrote the whole of that section... I'd have kept it a bit shorter myself).
I'm going to change back the "when no other broadcast is in progress" as (by definition) "Pages from Ceefax" is a broadcast itself, but I'll try to keep things clearer. Fourohfour 17:39, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Humour Barnstar

The Barnstar of Good Humor
For your rather amusing reply in response to this! EvocativeIntrigue 16:09, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

Em-dashes

I noticed you were an editor, and have a question for you. There are some conflicting opinions at Wikisoure regarding em-dashes. Do British printers prefer en-dashes? Or is it just the spacing that is at issue? Or is it old-fashioned to use en-dashes and modern for em-dashes? Most of the information on the matter is conflicting. Any advice would be appreciated.-- Birgitte§β ʈ Talk 03:20, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Hi Birgitte. There is no hard and fast rule, but British publishers prefer to use spaced en-rules as dashes. I think they look better myself. Historically, both have been used, but obviously it's best if they are consistent. If an em-rule is used, it should be unspaced. (A spaced em-rule suggests an omission, e.g. "Off to visit Lady — tonight".) According to the Oxford Manual of Style, "OUP and most US publishers use the unspaced (non-touching) em-rule as a parenthetical dash; other British publishers use an en-rule with a space either side." Hope that clarifies the matter. Get back to me if you have any more questions.-- Shantavira 06:10, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the clarification. I am going to point out your comments to a few people that may have further questions. The current preference is for em-dashes, but there are some distinctly British texts where I was having questions.-- Birgitte§β ʈ Talk 17:02, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Template:ISBN

Hello. I see you have removed the edits I made to Carol Thatcher—this is perfectly fine! But, if the template was supposed to be deleted, why does it still exist? Regards, Iola k ana| T 17:32, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Beats me. It noticed it wasn't used anywhere else and concensus seemed to be for deletion. I'll flag it again and see what happens.-- Shantavira 06:02, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a million!

Thanks for helping me out with my question at the reference desk!

Himanyo 18:28, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps you could add some information to these articles to explain the relationships between these two versions of the name. As they are now, they are a bit confusing. -- Lambiam Talk 18:32, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

You're right. I'll take a look. The topic is a little confusing as there are so many similar Indian languages, but hopefully someone else will correct me if I mess up.-- Shantavira 18:57, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Poets

Hi, I see you're removing redlinks which is a good idea. Just keep an eye out for disambiguation pages though - for example, you've turned Gregory Orr into a live link to somebody who is not a poet, rather than a redlink to somebody who is but who doesn't yet have an article. Dlyons493 Talk 10:49, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing that out. I was rather lazy in not checking.-- Shantavira 12:31, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
Barnstar of Humour3.png Alien humor
I, MacGyverMagic, hereby award you a barnstar for you hilariously funny comment about illegal 'aliens' on the reference desk.

Hi, recently you dubbed the articly referring to the radio station, Off The Chart Radio as an advertisement.

I'm sure you'll realise that in Wikipedia, it's hard for people to maintain some articles and prevent them from being abused or editted in a way we wouldn't want in order to keep within the Wiki Guidelines.

My point is, how are we supposed to make sure our page doesn't end up like an advertisement when people we don't know who listen to our station are editting it so? Do I have to personally go through it all and change it?

Hi Tom. I'm sure the article can be made into something that looks more like an encyclopedia entry. Look at some of the articles for other radio stations. If it looks too much like an advert it risks being deleted. You may also find the following Wikipedia guidelines useful: WP:SPAM, WP:NPOV, and WP:TPA. -- Shantavira 10:54, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Zen collaboration

Hi Shantavira!

Ta for the answer to my 'fashion' question :) . If it's not too much like work I'd love to have you involved in Wikipedia:Zen Collaboration of the Month! Rentwa 19:00, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

Hi Rentwa. Thanks for the invite and I will certainly take a look. However, writing about Zen is fraught with pitfalls, so I will probably leave it to the - er - experts.-- Shantavira 12:22, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
I'm more of an opinionated fool and edit warrior than an expert :) . Rentwa 16:33, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
Well that's a good example of what I mean. It is indeed a task for fools. -- Shantavira 16:59, 18 September 2006 (UTC)


The cargo on the "Mary Celeste"

Thanks for the message. I have also replied on the discussion page. I have now forgotten whether the Channel 5 documentary specified methanol or ethanol. I paraphrased the information while it was fresh in my mind. For me it has to be methanol for the explanation to work. My university chemistry is rusty but I think it would be much harder to build up a high vapour pressure of ethanol. I also wonder why ethanol would be transported to Italy all the way from the USA. JMcC 07:53, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Power pigs

Hi, a while ago I posted a quesiton on the Reference Desk asking what "Power pigs" were. You asked me to report back if i found out. I found out what they were recently, but the question has already been moved to the archives. Power pigs are a type of gummy candy in the shape of pig heads. http://www.darefoods.com/Products/Candies/JuicedUp/Power_Pig_Strawberry_Foamis.aspx?sid=759757c2-8193-4f2c-b64d-4124d0e770ba. Jamesino 15:20, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Jamesino. Glad you sorted that out. Sounds like they compare well with Rowntree's "wiggly worms" and "fruity frogs"!-- Shantavira 16:33, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

RD modification

If you haven't been reading the RD talk page, I would appreciate some input on a proposed re-arrangement of the reference desks. I have set up a demo here, and I am coming close to finishing the base code for the entire RD suite. It should be noted that there is no plan to use these pages without the aid of an archiving bot, and by that I mean to imply that they are being to be used with a bit that will be made for them. Once a few more things have been set in stone, I will re-issue the bot request. Thanks.  freshofftheufo ΓΛĿЌ  12:02, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

re: Degrees In Interior Design on Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

Thanks for the pointers. But in the article it doesn't mention excatly if they need degrees. Also, are there bachelor degrees in landscape architecture? Thanks. 100110100 23:20, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
Answered at WP:RD/M to the best of my knowledge. I suggest you call the appropriate schools/universities for more details.-- Shantavira 07:13, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

RD tools

Can you think of any other templates/tools that would be helpful for RD? I was thinking of making a more general/useful template such as {{RDT}} that would allow a bunch of tools as parameters, i.e. {{RDT|homework}} or {{RDT|lookitup|Banana}}. There's no need to do that unless there's a handful of tools though, and I've started collecting them on this page.  freshofftheufo ΓΛĿЌ  09:16, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Good idea. I will give it some thought.-- Shantavira 09:53, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

RD 'use the search box' text

Hi, Shantavira: Is that a template you're using? If so, could you give me the shortcut? It's great. Anchoress 08:48, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Hi there. You can just click on edit to see what templates are used, but you'll find it over at Template:Refq.-- Shantavira 08:53, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
OK, thanks. I didn't bother checking because usually when I look it's just the text of the template without the actual template name. Anchoress 08:55, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
I think that happens if they're subst'd. I never really understood subst'ing, but I think I read that that particular template didn't need to be subst'd? I'm probably wrong though. It seems to me that if any templates need subst'ing that should be done automatically. -- Shantavira 09:19, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
Right, that sounds logical. I think I expected that (like some templates like the fact template) there was a shortcut. But it's just the whole template text, right? Or am I wrong about that? Anchoress 09:22, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
You just type {{refq|article name|optional message}}.-- Shantavira 10:06, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

disambig

{{disambiguation}} is the template you where looking for on disambig pages. RichMac 10:18, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

But {{disambiguation}} specifically refers to "articles associated with the same title", which singing fish does not. I thought there was a more appropriate one but I couldn't find it.-- Shantavira 10:44, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
Missed your meaning in the summary. From the looks of things disambig seems to be the standard on a 'can refer to' page. It could definitely use a bit of clarification. Perhaps another template should be proposed. There would be quite a few pages that would need semi-manual cleaning up though. RichMac 10:55, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Your name :-)

Your name suggests (at least to me) that you are an Indian (or connected to India or nearby country). Just curious if my guess is true -- Wikicheng 13:35, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi Wikicheng. I'm a Cockney (technically anyway). Shantavira is my (Sanskrit) Buddhist name, and means "peaceful hero".-- Shantavira 15:35, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

I should have guessed that it was the Buddhist name. As it was Sanskrit, it sounded Indian. With this assumption, I was surprised when you said (in answer to my question in Language helpdesk) that you are not sure how the education is in bilingual countries :-) -- Wikicheng 06:18, 14 November 2006 (UTC)


Random Questions

The Minor Barnstar
message martianlostinspace 17:11, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Hey dude. You do a good job of telling us who the plonkers are who post random questions to ref desks, eg. “Can I get a degree in badger analysis?” Thankyou for that. Is it worth at least asking him to use it sparingly? Is there an official policy on this? I don’t question your actions, I just wander if we could stop him wasting everyone else’s time. martianlostinspace 17:09, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi Martian. Actually I only did that once. I copied somebody else's flag from the November 18th questions, but those seem to have disappeared at the moment. We did ask him to stop though. See User talk:Bengurion. -- Shantavira 08:40, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Well done. martianlostinspace 16:37, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

I've added the "{{ prod}}" template to the article Philanthropist, suggesting that it be deleted according to the proposed deletion process. All contributions are appreciated, but I don't believe it satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and I've explained why in the deletion notice (see also " What Wikipedia is not" and Wikipedia's deletion policy). Please either work to improve the article if the topic is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia, or, if you disagree with the notice, discuss the issues at Talk:Philanthropist. You may remove the deletion notice, and the article will not be deleted, but note that it may still be sent to Articles for Deletion, where it may be deleted if consensus to delete is reached, or if it matches any of the speedy deletion criteria. — Sebastian (talk) 03:39, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Why me? I have no interest in this article and I don't believe I have ever edited it.-- Shantavira 08:45, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Article in need of cleanup - please assist if you can

Hi Shanta

Hi Shanta, As a regular RD contributor, I just wondered if you were aware of the subject of User:Fridays recall petition for his actions on the RDs. etc. The discussion etc is on User:Fridays talk page. You may care to take a look. -- Light current 19:24, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Image tagging for Image:Sv2.jpg

Thanks for uploading Image:Sv2.jpg. The image has been identified as not specifying the source and creator of the image, which is required by Wikipedia's policy on images. If you don't indicate the source and creator of the image on the image's description page, it may be deleted some time in the next seven days. If you have uploaded other images, please verify that you have provided source information for them as well.

For more information on using images, see the following pages:

This is an automated notice by OrphanBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. 14:05, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

2007 National Express coach crash

Hi there, You know how you reverted the section about the coaches themselves on the article 2007 national express coach crash, well the user who created that section reverted it back so they would appear on the article. I've now took away that Information as that was what was causing the notability template to be there. So really I'd just like to say thanks for your help with that article and well done! If you have any other comments please leave a message on my Talk Page or on the article talk page. Cheers!

Respectfully.... Tellyaddict Talk 15:00 13 January 2007 (UTC)


WikiProject Backpacking

Hello, I noticed you seem to like Backpacking and was wondering if you'd be interested in WikiProject Backpacking, a new project geared towards improving backpacking related articles on Wikipedia. If you'd like to join, show support by signing your name at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Proposals#Backpacking and by helping to edit our beta project page at User:Leif902/WikiProject Backpacking. Thank you, and have a nice day! - Leif902 00:28, 12 March 2007 (UTC)


You're invited to be a part of WikiProject Backpacking, an attempt to better organize information in articles related to backpacking. To accept this invitation, click here!


Potters Bar rail accidents

I never knew ther was a rail accident in 1946. I have changed the article accordingly, and in chronological order. Simply south 13:23, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Re: Einstein quotation

Hiya Shantavira. I'm aware that this particular quotation is being challenged. It is questionable, I agree, for no adequate source has ever been presented despite all the research. There is a possible source available here (find the most lengthy paragraph). Additionally, there was a recent discussion about this quotation at E-Sangha, possibly the largest community for Buddhists online. I'll consider removing the quote from my userpage. Metta. Usedbook 16:17, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

"Conservation of Mass" on WP:RD/S

Excellent! DMacks 15:24, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Toyota Prius

Are you active on the priuschat.com website? Rangermike 12:06, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

No. Should I be?-- Shantavira 14:09, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks

Thank you for your clean-up in the Dorje Shugden article. -- Kt66 22:31, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

I'll appreciate a further clean-up. A smaller article or a cut of information should be made with great care. I have seen also redundant information so I agree to work also on that. The stuff is quite complex... many regards, -- Kt66 20:32, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Broken Link

This one no longer points to where you think it should: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#Modern_reasons_for_rejecting_religion Llamabr 14:58, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Ryoute

Ryoute was deleted under the PROD process. A prod tag can be placed on an article if it doesn't seem to meet the notability guidelines of Wikipedia and doesn't seem to fit under the speedy deletion criteria. Editors are given five days to fix up the article, or else it will be deleted. Nothing happened, so the article was deleted after the five-day period. It's fine for you to recreate it, but just to let you know, the article could potentially be deleted in the future. Judging from the current status of the article, I think this could possibly be something of notability, but I'm still not totally sure. The article, in its current state, needs to be cleaned up and formatted according to the Manual of Style. Afterwards, I think it would be best if we put the article up for AFD, so that we can gauge the community consensus on keeping or deleting the article. I'm going to be out of the country, so it may take a few days before I get back to you on this issue. Nishkid64 ( talk) 16:25, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Medical advice on the Ref Desks

Shantavira, please try to avoid offering medical advice on the Reference Desks as you did in this thread [1]. The first part of your answer – encouraging the poster to seek professional medical advice – was excellent. It's best, though, not to offer a possible diagnosis. Not only might it scare someone unnecessarily (or, possibly, understate the seriousness of their problem) it also tends to encourage other editors to chime in with their own diagnoses.

Even offering opinions as to whether or not a condition is serious or dangerous isn't a good idea; giving the impression that we'll always tell people (or even that we'll know) if their symptoms are serious or not may lead questioners to inappropriately rely on those evaluations.

Your cooperation in the future is appreciated, and your continued contributions to the Reference Desks are welcomed. TenOfAllTrades( talk) 19:30, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

This issue is being discussed at the Ref Desk Talk Page. StuRat 12:14, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Producing your own WikiTV Show

How about you as Producer of a WikiTV show. I mean, would Wikipedia be infected by Television or would Television be mutated by Wikipedia? May the strongest from of Media win. I vote for you as Producer. Make it happen. -- i am the kwisatz haderach 17:26, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apostrophes

Beware the 70s, 80s and 90s! Follow the links and you will see that they are not the same as the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. -- rbrwr ˆ

Coversation moved to article talk page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Birmingham

The rule on Wikipedia is to leave text in American or British English as first written. 1990's is an acceptable U.S. style according to the style manual on my shelf. Please don't waste your time trying to correct it. Rmhermen 14:03, Jun 19, 2004 (UTC)
Greengrocers' apostrophes in dates are expressly forbidden in the Wikipedia style manual. See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers). This format enables links like 1970s to work. Shantavira 16:31, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)
I suggest you read that page again. Nowhere is it espressly forbidden. It is true that the article titles for the decade articles are written in that format. but links on pages can be easily linked as [[1990s|1990's]] if you like, although I don't believe the dates I noticed you changing were linked at all. Rmhermen 00:12, Jun 21, 2004 (UTC)
I did. The example given on that page states "1830s (note no apostrophe)". That seems pretty explicit to me. In any case, in English the apostrophe has just two well established functions: to indicate omission and to indicate possession. There is simply no case for employing an apostrophe to indicate plurality. Shantavira 15:29, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)
This article (and the editor who came after me) says not, but I think "For other Croydon's see ..." looks better with an apostrophe -- RHaworth 10:26, 2005 Feb 6 (UTC)
Ah, but we have a Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers) so that's what we use. You would doubtless look better with an apostrophe too. I suspect it only looks better because one hasn't seen the word Croydons before, whereas one would already be familiar with "Croydon's". Shantavira 08:36, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Hi, Shantavira. I am going to reply to your emails some day but in the meantime I will just say: Yes, I have caught the Wikibug and, as I eventually discovered, it's all your fault!

I note you stay clear of VfD's - I don't blame you. But with your background, I think you may well have something useful to say in the above VfD debate.

Cheers, Roger -- RHaworth 10:12, 2005 Feb 6 (UTC)

Thanks for calling my attention to this. The discussion raises some interesting issues. Nevertheless, I find life's too short to get involved in so many of the discussions taking place on Wikipedia alone; I'm already involved in quite a few discussion groups in other corners of cyberspace. Shantavira 12:45, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Thanks for voting. Having seen the inane (in my opinion) comments that people have hung after your comment and mine, I think I shall withdraw to quieter waters like Coal and Wine Tax posts (but even they were at the centre of a heated debate in their time). Cheers. RHaworth 09:54, 2005 Feb 7 (UTC)

Nice Picture

But aren't U wanted by Interpol? I'm sure I've seen u in a James Bond movie. max rspct 17:42, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

re: Future evolution of humans

In the article Future evolution of humans you propose that the genome will become more diverse due to extended survival.

I propose the converse is true. It is true that more persons with genetic imperfections will survive (but see below), but the way society is becoming global, i think more and more populations that in previous times would have no contact with each other, will in the future interbreed, and the genome will 'average out' consider for example -

  • The gene for blonde hair is dissappearing
  • more people in the west are marrying other races- look how many Phillipino girls marry westerners compared with 100 years ago.
  • different races are already intermixing in unprecendented amounts -the 'Global Village' concept

All the differences between races will blend - in 1000 years all humans will be brownish, brown eyes and dark hair. On the other hand, as genetic engineering proceeds, the ability to specify a baby beforehand will overtake and replace evolution. Genetic defects will be detected and aborted early, only perfect babies will be allowed to be born. We'll end up with a society similar to 'Brave New World', except everyone will live to be 500 years old.

Personally, I think its a disaster waiting to happen. Humans will become a monoculture species, and look what happens to monocultures, one good virus and were all dead.

Im interested on what you think.

Lincolnshire Poacher

I didn't write this article and have no interest in it. I suggest you contact the author User:Anthonyjameswood. Shantavira 09:23, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Mount Snowdon

I've not reverted your change to the Snowdon Mountain Railway, but it is correct to say that it is the highest peak in England and Wales, as there are no peaks higher than it in England. The rationale for combining the two is that they are a single legal entity in many respects - see England and Wales for details. Thryduulf 17:44, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough, but "highest peak in England and Wales" reads very oddly to me, and I'm not even Welsh. Shantavira 19:03, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)
reading your reply there I think I've finally understood what you consider odd about it, in that it could be interpreted as meaning the peak is in both countries. If that isn't your objection then it makes it doubly odd! Thryduulf 20:24, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC) (I'm not Welsh either, but I did go to university there)

About the Third Rail edit....

... I'm not sure how else to contact you other than here. I was curious about your justification for changing km/h to kph. I'm an engineer and I've always preferred the former designation. Is the latter more commonly accepted otherwise. Is there something in the wikipedia style manual about this? Regards, <...removed email address...>

mph and kph are the standard abbreviations, and more familiar to the general reader, though I can see why an engineer would like the / sign. Shantavira 15:52, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

The Prisoner

Heya,

Thanks for helping clean up The Prisoner. Unfortunately, I overdid two of your edits. I looked over your input and I think you really cleaned it up well. Would you mind going over it again to make sure all of your input is reflected? Sorry about that! I shouldn't have edited the whole article in one swoop. Yeago 08:05, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Not a problem. Thanks for tackling this article, which needed much more work than I was able to give it. Shantavira 12:40, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Slide tackle, more like. Yeago 18:51, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Hi Shantavira, I must say I do agree with the majority of your edits there. Always interesting to see someone else tidy up one's text. However I have a few questions for you. The first is the removal of the footnotes. My impression from reading a few articles was that the preferred way of including external links was using footnotes so that if something changes externally, it doesn't break within the main article. Just wondering if I've gotten that wrong? By the way the Quit Motorplex link doesn't look right. The other question is about the photo. What is it about it that you think is so poor? I actually thought it was pretty good considering the conditions but I'm open to criticism. Bear in mind that the top fuel cars only appear late in the day when the light is bad and that drag car was taken when it was doing around 500kph. Did you look at the larger version? personally speaking I would like aerial pictures in the article to see the large industrial are and compare that with the spectacles, but getting that as a pd would be impossible I think. Kind regards. SeanMack 12:49, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Hi SeanMack. I moved the footnotes into the text, as this now seems to be pretty standard in Wikipedia (except perhaps for references). This enables readers just to click on the link instead of clicking the note and then the link. I'm not quite sure how this could break the article, but do as you see fit. It's true they could be listed as regular external links in the usual way, except that they do relate to specific features of the article rather than the article as a whole. As for the photo, since it's blurred, and taken at night, it could be almost anything, anywhere. Does it say anything about Kwinana that a daylight photo of something in the town wouldn't say better? Shantavira 13:20, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

this is the sort of thing I was thinking about: http://www.perthwa.com.au/cgi-bin/maps/drawmap.cgi?l=2&r1=4&c1=2 SeanMack 13:04, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
I think I'll add this in as a link: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-32.279892,115.751610&spn=0.232550,0.308544&t=k&hl=en SeanMack 13:24, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
I agree that a pic of Kwinana would be good but maybe as an addition not a replacement? I work near there so hopefully I'll get round to it. I do still like the drag car as I think it captures the speed of the car, and I can guarantee it was taken at the motorplex - I don't think a blur in a photo is necessarily always bad but I'm not being defensive about it, I guess we'll just have agree to disagree. If/when I take another pic I'll put the drag car down to the motorplex section and make it smaller with a link to a bigger version, that's probably the best way forward as a compromise? If you or anyone else feels strongly enough about I won't complain if it's removed... Do you think the google map was a good addition?
Hey again. Just a follow up from before. Last weekend I drove to Kwinana and tried to get an interesting photo. Genuinely there is nothing there except a few shops. You'll see what I had to make do with... Regards SeanMack 09:38, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Modern Talking

Are you absolutely sure, that there is no other German bestseller like Modern Talking? Vorash 18:20, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

I have absolutely no idea. I made that edit because "can be considered as a world's best selling German music act in a history" is meaningless. "Considered" by whom and under what circumstances? As I said, either they are best selling or they are not. Perhaps "best selling" should be deleted entirely, but I thought it unfair to do that without any statistics to hand. Shantavira 19:45, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Changing US English spelling to UK English - storey

Please see Spelling Guide.

"Story" is the standard spelling for the U.S. Mirror Vax 19:16, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

Oops! Your rite, sorry. Shantavira 10:23, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

Birmingham sources

Hi Shantavira: Your well-intentioned provision of sources at Talk:Birmingham#Providing evidence was redundant because Proto was making a rhetorical point about Andy's own intensive request for sources. The section was part of a very long discussion between several editors and Proto was expressing his exasperation in a lighthearted way. I am sorry that you spent time on something of little immediate benefit. Are you aware of Wikipedia:Meetup/Birmingham? — Theo (Talk) 19:41, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

(test)

Sweet Peanuts

Hey there Shantavira. Thank you very much for answering my question ("Questiona about Peanut-Butter snack"). The name doesn't really ring a bell at all, but from the description on the website you provided, I'd say it's the same thing with a different name due to it being apparently made by a different business. :)

-- Demonesque 00:33, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

your help and voting to keep People with an Aquarius sun sign, etc.

Hello there. I m eliciting support to vote down the deletion of pages listing people with wiki pages according to their sun sign. I ask you User:Shantavira as i see you ve made edits before to the Western astrology page which means you probably have interest in the topic and perhaps this issue (unlike, i hazard to guess, the three users who ve voted against having these lists). if at all you think these pages should exist, get i get you to vote by following the links to the deletion page at People with an Aquarius sun sign. either way, best regards. - Mayumashu 18:41, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

Sorry, but I voted to delete. -- Shantavira 19:28, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
no problem, thanks anyway. - Mayumashu 05:31, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

your user page

What a fascinating individual are you. Truly captivating. Deeply immersed in your work on, and study of, several religions for much of your life, yet you hold the opinion that the world would be better off without religion. Are you a Quaker? I was raised (sort of) as a Quaker, but havn't run across another in at least a decade. Oddly, I realise that I slowly hope you are one. Thanks for your contribution to my question at the reference desk concerning how to slow down the out-put of a fan motor. I hope all my commas and apostrophes are in order. I never get a second chance to make a first impression, you know. --Leah

Hi Leah. Thanks for your message. I hope you got the motor working. I was raised a Quaker but eventually became a Buddhist, partly because I found I loved meditation, but also because I didn't find Quakerism had a particularly clear or consistent teaching, at least not compared with Buddhism. Nevertheless I still have many good Quaker friends and live in Birmingham which is a Quaker stronghold in the UK. Local Buddhists and Quakers sometimes meet up, as we do have a lot in common. Yes, I prefer not to think of Buddhism as a religion (no God), but I don't expect to convince many people about that. Religious polarisation today seems to be causing so much distress I do think we'd be better off without religion as such, but I don't think there's much chance of that in the near future. One can perhaps only start by bringing religions together for greater understanding, but if some religions don't want that, what hope is there? It's a huge question. Anyway, there is probably a slot for Quaker Wikipedians somewhere if you want to contact some. Maybe have a look at the contributors to the relevant articles? -- Shantavira 19:28, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

electional astrology

I have sen your comments on the subject. The matter has been reviewed / revised . I would like to have your comments on the issue.

shridharvk 3 April 2006

Ernst Junger: Help Desk

I want to thank you for your input, and I eventually did as you mentioned. Thanks, Bob N

Digbeth Coach Station

I removed the external link you added to Digbeth Coach Station - it doesn't work. I'd be interested to see what the station will look like, though - where did you find the link? -- Hughcharlesparker 16:19, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Hugh. As you could probably tell from the url, this links to a local chat group that I'm a member of, so I can get to it easily enough. It was posted by someone who works for NatEx, supposedly from their press release, though I haven't been able to find the image elsewhere. Obviously I can't just paste it into Wikipedia, so I think we'll just have to wait for something more official to appear. It's been a very long wait already! If you really want to see it (bear in mind it is still subject to planning permission) join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/moseley_free/ then go to the Files (not photos) section of the chat group and find DigbethConcept_big.jpg -- Shantavira 17:58, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Pages from Ceefax

Hi there,

I notice you made some minor changes to the "Pages from Ceefax" section of the Ceefax page. Can you clarify what bits you found unclear? I'm afraid I don't understand which parts were nonsensical, although it's often hard to judge these things from a fresh perspective. Thanks!

Fourohfour 16:01, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

The phrase "the service is typically accompanied by some form of easy listening music" puzzled me. It appeared to be nonsense, since what you normally hear when accessing any teletext page on any channel is whatever programme happens to be showing. There is no teleext sound channel. Then I realised the "music" refers to (the rare) "out of hours" broadcasting of teletext pages. I hope my edit made this clearer, though as I said, the whole article needs clarifying.-- Shantavira 16:15, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
Oh, I see. Okay, sorry, I assumed it was clear because it was within the "Pages from Ceefax" section; as I said, it's hard to view these things "cold" (not that implying I wrote the whole of that section... I'd have kept it a bit shorter myself).
I'm going to change back the "when no other broadcast is in progress" as (by definition) "Pages from Ceefax" is a broadcast itself, but I'll try to keep things clearer. Fourohfour 17:39, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Humour Barnstar

The Barnstar of Good Humor
For your rather amusing reply in response to this! EvocativeIntrigue 16:09, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

Em-dashes

I noticed you were an editor, and have a question for you. There are some conflicting opinions at Wikisoure regarding em-dashes. Do British printers prefer en-dashes? Or is it just the spacing that is at issue? Or is it old-fashioned to use en-dashes and modern for em-dashes? Most of the information on the matter is conflicting. Any advice would be appreciated.-- Birgitte§β ʈ Talk 03:20, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Hi Birgitte. There is no hard and fast rule, but British publishers prefer to use spaced en-rules as dashes. I think they look better myself. Historically, both have been used, but obviously it's best if they are consistent. If an em-rule is used, it should be unspaced. (A spaced em-rule suggests an omission, e.g. "Off to visit Lady — tonight".) According to the Oxford Manual of Style, "OUP and most US publishers use the unspaced (non-touching) em-rule as a parenthetical dash; other British publishers use an en-rule with a space either side." Hope that clarifies the matter. Get back to me if you have any more questions.-- Shantavira 06:10, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the clarification. I am going to point out your comments to a few people that may have further questions. The current preference is for em-dashes, but there are some distinctly British texts where I was having questions.-- Birgitte§β ʈ Talk 17:02, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Template:ISBN

Hello. I see you have removed the edits I made to Carol Thatcher—this is perfectly fine! But, if the template was supposed to be deleted, why does it still exist? Regards, Iola k ana| T 17:32, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Beats me. It noticed it wasn't used anywhere else and concensus seemed to be for deletion. I'll flag it again and see what happens.-- Shantavira 06:02, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a million!

Thanks for helping me out with my question at the reference desk!

Himanyo 18:28, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps you could add some information to these articles to explain the relationships between these two versions of the name. As they are now, they are a bit confusing. -- Lambiam Talk 18:32, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

You're right. I'll take a look. The topic is a little confusing as there are so many similar Indian languages, but hopefully someone else will correct me if I mess up.-- Shantavira 18:57, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Poets

Hi, I see you're removing redlinks which is a good idea. Just keep an eye out for disambiguation pages though - for example, you've turned Gregory Orr into a live link to somebody who is not a poet, rather than a redlink to somebody who is but who doesn't yet have an article. Dlyons493 Talk 10:49, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing that out. I was rather lazy in not checking.-- Shantavira 12:31, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
Barnstar of Humour3.png Alien humor
I, MacGyverMagic, hereby award you a barnstar for you hilariously funny comment about illegal 'aliens' on the reference desk.

Hi, recently you dubbed the articly referring to the radio station, Off The Chart Radio as an advertisement.

I'm sure you'll realise that in Wikipedia, it's hard for people to maintain some articles and prevent them from being abused or editted in a way we wouldn't want in order to keep within the Wiki Guidelines.

My point is, how are we supposed to make sure our page doesn't end up like an advertisement when people we don't know who listen to our station are editting it so? Do I have to personally go through it all and change it?

Hi Tom. I'm sure the article can be made into something that looks more like an encyclopedia entry. Look at some of the articles for other radio stations. If it looks too much like an advert it risks being deleted. You may also find the following Wikipedia guidelines useful: WP:SPAM, WP:NPOV, and WP:TPA. -- Shantavira 10:54, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Zen collaboration

Hi Shantavira!

Ta for the answer to my 'fashion' question :) . If it's not too much like work I'd love to have you involved in Wikipedia:Zen Collaboration of the Month! Rentwa 19:00, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

Hi Rentwa. Thanks for the invite and I will certainly take a look. However, writing about Zen is fraught with pitfalls, so I will probably leave it to the - er - experts.-- Shantavira 12:22, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
I'm more of an opinionated fool and edit warrior than an expert :) . Rentwa 16:33, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
Well that's a good example of what I mean. It is indeed a task for fools. -- Shantavira 16:59, 18 September 2006 (UTC)


The cargo on the "Mary Celeste"

Thanks for the message. I have also replied on the discussion page. I have now forgotten whether the Channel 5 documentary specified methanol or ethanol. I paraphrased the information while it was fresh in my mind. For me it has to be methanol for the explanation to work. My university chemistry is rusty but I think it would be much harder to build up a high vapour pressure of ethanol. I also wonder why ethanol would be transported to Italy all the way from the USA. JMcC 07:53, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Power pigs

Hi, a while ago I posted a quesiton on the Reference Desk asking what "Power pigs" were. You asked me to report back if i found out. I found out what they were recently, but the question has already been moved to the archives. Power pigs are a type of gummy candy in the shape of pig heads. http://www.darefoods.com/Products/Candies/JuicedUp/Power_Pig_Strawberry_Foamis.aspx?sid=759757c2-8193-4f2c-b64d-4124d0e770ba. Jamesino 15:20, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Jamesino. Glad you sorted that out. Sounds like they compare well with Rowntree's "wiggly worms" and "fruity frogs"!-- Shantavira 16:33, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

RD modification

If you haven't been reading the RD talk page, I would appreciate some input on a proposed re-arrangement of the reference desks. I have set up a demo here, and I am coming close to finishing the base code for the entire RD suite. It should be noted that there is no plan to use these pages without the aid of an archiving bot, and by that I mean to imply that they are being to be used with a bit that will be made for them. Once a few more things have been set in stone, I will re-issue the bot request. Thanks.  freshofftheufo ΓΛĿЌ  12:02, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

re: Degrees In Interior Design on Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

Thanks for the pointers. But in the article it doesn't mention excatly if they need degrees. Also, are there bachelor degrees in landscape architecture? Thanks. 100110100 23:20, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
Answered at WP:RD/M to the best of my knowledge. I suggest you call the appropriate schools/universities for more details.-- Shantavira 07:13, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

RD tools

Can you think of any other templates/tools that would be helpful for RD? I was thinking of making a more general/useful template such as {{RDT}} that would allow a bunch of tools as parameters, i.e. {{RDT|homework}} or {{RDT|lookitup|Banana}}. There's no need to do that unless there's a handful of tools though, and I've started collecting them on this page.  freshofftheufo ΓΛĿЌ  09:16, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Good idea. I will give it some thought.-- Shantavira 09:53, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

RD 'use the search box' text

Hi, Shantavira: Is that a template you're using? If so, could you give me the shortcut? It's great. Anchoress 08:48, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Hi there. You can just click on edit to see what templates are used, but you'll find it over at Template:Refq.-- Shantavira 08:53, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
OK, thanks. I didn't bother checking because usually when I look it's just the text of the template without the actual template name. Anchoress 08:55, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
I think that happens if they're subst'd. I never really understood subst'ing, but I think I read that that particular template didn't need to be subst'd? I'm probably wrong though. It seems to me that if any templates need subst'ing that should be done automatically. -- Shantavira 09:19, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
Right, that sounds logical. I think I expected that (like some templates like the fact template) there was a shortcut. But it's just the whole template text, right? Or am I wrong about that? Anchoress 09:22, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
You just type {{refq|article name|optional message}}.-- Shantavira 10:06, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

disambig

{{disambiguation}} is the template you where looking for on disambig pages. RichMac 10:18, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

But {{disambiguation}} specifically refers to "articles associated with the same title", which singing fish does not. I thought there was a more appropriate one but I couldn't find it.-- Shantavira 10:44, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
Missed your meaning in the summary. From the looks of things disambig seems to be the standard on a 'can refer to' page. It could definitely use a bit of clarification. Perhaps another template should be proposed. There would be quite a few pages that would need semi-manual cleaning up though. RichMac 10:55, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Your name :-)

Your name suggests (at least to me) that you are an Indian (or connected to India or nearby country). Just curious if my guess is true -- Wikicheng 13:35, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi Wikicheng. I'm a Cockney (technically anyway). Shantavira is my (Sanskrit) Buddhist name, and means "peaceful hero".-- Shantavira 15:35, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

I should have guessed that it was the Buddhist name. As it was Sanskrit, it sounded Indian. With this assumption, I was surprised when you said (in answer to my question in Language helpdesk) that you are not sure how the education is in bilingual countries :-) -- Wikicheng 06:18, 14 November 2006 (UTC)


Random Questions

The Minor Barnstar
message martianlostinspace 17:11, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Hey dude. You do a good job of telling us who the plonkers are who post random questions to ref desks, eg. “Can I get a degree in badger analysis?” Thankyou for that. Is it worth at least asking him to use it sparingly? Is there an official policy on this? I don’t question your actions, I just wander if we could stop him wasting everyone else’s time. martianlostinspace 17:09, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi Martian. Actually I only did that once. I copied somebody else's flag from the November 18th questions, but those seem to have disappeared at the moment. We did ask him to stop though. See User talk:Bengurion. -- Shantavira 08:40, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Well done. martianlostinspace 16:37, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

I've added the "{{ prod}}" template to the article Philanthropist, suggesting that it be deleted according to the proposed deletion process. All contributions are appreciated, but I don't believe it satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and I've explained why in the deletion notice (see also " What Wikipedia is not" and Wikipedia's deletion policy). Please either work to improve the article if the topic is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia, or, if you disagree with the notice, discuss the issues at Talk:Philanthropist. You may remove the deletion notice, and the article will not be deleted, but note that it may still be sent to Articles for Deletion, where it may be deleted if consensus to delete is reached, or if it matches any of the speedy deletion criteria. — Sebastian (talk) 03:39, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Why me? I have no interest in this article and I don't believe I have ever edited it.-- Shantavira 08:45, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Article in need of cleanup - please assist if you can

Hi Shanta

Hi Shanta, As a regular RD contributor, I just wondered if you were aware of the subject of User:Fridays recall petition for his actions on the RDs. etc. The discussion etc is on User:Fridays talk page. You may care to take a look. -- Light current 19:24, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Image tagging for Image:Sv2.jpg

Thanks for uploading Image:Sv2.jpg. The image has been identified as not specifying the source and creator of the image, which is required by Wikipedia's policy on images. If you don't indicate the source and creator of the image on the image's description page, it may be deleted some time in the next seven days. If you have uploaded other images, please verify that you have provided source information for them as well.

For more information on using images, see the following pages:

This is an automated notice by OrphanBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. 14:05, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

2007 National Express coach crash

Hi there, You know how you reverted the section about the coaches themselves on the article 2007 national express coach crash, well the user who created that section reverted it back so they would appear on the article. I've now took away that Information as that was what was causing the notability template to be there. So really I'd just like to say thanks for your help with that article and well done! If you have any other comments please leave a message on my Talk Page or on the article talk page. Cheers!

Respectfully.... Tellyaddict Talk 15:00 13 January 2007 (UTC)


WikiProject Backpacking

Hello, I noticed you seem to like Backpacking and was wondering if you'd be interested in WikiProject Backpacking, a new project geared towards improving backpacking related articles on Wikipedia. If you'd like to join, show support by signing your name at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Proposals#Backpacking and by helping to edit our beta project page at User:Leif902/WikiProject Backpacking. Thank you, and have a nice day! - Leif902 00:28, 12 March 2007 (UTC)


You're invited to be a part of WikiProject Backpacking, an attempt to better organize information in articles related to backpacking. To accept this invitation, click here!


Potters Bar rail accidents

I never knew ther was a rail accident in 1946. I have changed the article accordingly, and in chronological order. Simply south 13:23, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Re: Einstein quotation

Hiya Shantavira. I'm aware that this particular quotation is being challenged. It is questionable, I agree, for no adequate source has ever been presented despite all the research. There is a possible source available here (find the most lengthy paragraph). Additionally, there was a recent discussion about this quotation at E-Sangha, possibly the largest community for Buddhists online. I'll consider removing the quote from my userpage. Metta. Usedbook 16:17, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

"Conservation of Mass" on WP:RD/S

Excellent! DMacks 15:24, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Toyota Prius

Are you active on the priuschat.com website? Rangermike 12:06, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

No. Should I be?-- Shantavira 14:09, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks

Thank you for your clean-up in the Dorje Shugden article. -- Kt66 22:31, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

I'll appreciate a further clean-up. A smaller article or a cut of information should be made with great care. I have seen also redundant information so I agree to work also on that. The stuff is quite complex... many regards, -- Kt66 20:32, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Broken Link

This one no longer points to where you think it should: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#Modern_reasons_for_rejecting_religion Llamabr 14:58, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Ryoute

Ryoute was deleted under the PROD process. A prod tag can be placed on an article if it doesn't seem to meet the notability guidelines of Wikipedia and doesn't seem to fit under the speedy deletion criteria. Editors are given five days to fix up the article, or else it will be deleted. Nothing happened, so the article was deleted after the five-day period. It's fine for you to recreate it, but just to let you know, the article could potentially be deleted in the future. Judging from the current status of the article, I think this could possibly be something of notability, but I'm still not totally sure. The article, in its current state, needs to be cleaned up and formatted according to the Manual of Style. Afterwards, I think it would be best if we put the article up for AFD, so that we can gauge the community consensus on keeping or deleting the article. I'm going to be out of the country, so it may take a few days before I get back to you on this issue. Nishkid64 ( talk) 16:25, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Medical advice on the Ref Desks

Shantavira, please try to avoid offering medical advice on the Reference Desks as you did in this thread [1]. The first part of your answer – encouraging the poster to seek professional medical advice – was excellent. It's best, though, not to offer a possible diagnosis. Not only might it scare someone unnecessarily (or, possibly, understate the seriousness of their problem) it also tends to encourage other editors to chime in with their own diagnoses.

Even offering opinions as to whether or not a condition is serious or dangerous isn't a good idea; giving the impression that we'll always tell people (or even that we'll know) if their symptoms are serious or not may lead questioners to inappropriately rely on those evaluations.

Your cooperation in the future is appreciated, and your continued contributions to the Reference Desks are welcomed. TenOfAllTrades( talk) 19:30, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

This issue is being discussed at the Ref Desk Talk Page. StuRat 12:14, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Producing your own WikiTV Show

How about you as Producer of a WikiTV show. I mean, would Wikipedia be infected by Television or would Television be mutated by Wikipedia? May the strongest from of Media win. I vote for you as Producer. Make it happen. -- i am the kwisatz haderach 17:26, 5 September 2007 (UTC)


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